Cue tipper and straightener.



No. 674,732. Patented May 2|, I90!- C. J. DURTICUS. Y

CUE TIPPER AND STRAIGHTENER.

(Application filed. Sept. 5, 1900.)

(No Model.)

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CLATONIA J. DORTIOUS, OF NEWTON, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO THE DORTIOUS MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF COLORADO.

CUE TIPPER AND STRAIGHTENER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 674,732, dated May 21, 1901.

Application filed September 5, 1900. Serial No. 29,096. (No model.)

To (I/ZZ whom, it may concern:

Beitknown that I, CLATONIA J. DORTIOUS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Newton, in the county of Sussex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in One Tippers and Straighteners; and I do declare the following to bea full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention has relation to a clamp particularly designed to hold the tip on a billiard-cue fixedly while the cementing means is setting or hardening and to hold the one while being straightened; and the invention consists in certain peculiarities of construction, substantially as hereinafter described, and definitely pointed out in the subjoined claims.

The object of the invention is to provide a cue-clamp of simple and inexpensive con struction which may be applied to and removed from a cue without liability of crooking the same and which will be useful also in straightening crooked cues. This object is accomplished by the construction illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of a cue-clamp, showing the manner in which the same is applied to a cue. Fig. 2 is a vertical section through the clamp, taken on the line a a of Fig. 3, showing the full size of the device. Fig. 3 is a bottom plan view thereof.

1 and 2 designate relatively movable arms of the clamp pivotally mounted at or about their longitudinal centers 4, at which places they are curved in relatively reverse directions upon the ends of a cross-bar 3 and having their lower ends extended toward each otherand formed to provide jaws 5 and 6, which are relatively shaped to receive and hold the upper end of a one being tipped or straightened. Each of these jaws is preferably V-shaped, as shown in Fig. 3, to provide a rectangular mouth, and, if desired, the connection of the arms with the cross-bar may be loose, so as to afiord a slight extent of lateral movement of said arms, whereby the jaws may overlap and form a mouth of a diameter less than that formed when the edges of the jaws are in engagement with each other. By thus mounting the arms loosely the range of adaptability of the device to various sizes of one ends is increased, as it is enabled thereby to tightly grasp cue ends of a diameter less than that of the mouth formed when the edges of the jaws contact with each other.

At the end of the clamp remote from the mouth is a jaw-adjusting means preferably comprising a screw 7, threaded through an end of one of the arms and bearing against the contiguous end of the other arm and having at its free end a head by which it is conveniently actuated to open or close said mouth.

The cross-bar 3 carries an adjustable device which bears upon the cue-tip and presses the same firmly onto the end of the one and holds it until the cementing medium has hardened. This pressure device preferably consists of a screw 8, having a threaded engagement with said bar and provided with a head 9, which is arranged in line with the mouth of the clamp and engages said tip. The crossbar 3 preferably has laterally-extending ends 10, arranged in slots 11 in the respective arms 1 and 2, and said ends and slots have a relative formation which permits the necessary movements of the arms and guides the latter in their adjustments. The jaw ends of the arms are also provided with lateral projections 12, which are grasped by the user in the operation of clamping a cue, and also provide footpieces upon which the clamp may rest' and support the one in a dependent position therefrom, with its weighted end down.

In the operation of tipping a one by means of the clamp hereinabove described glue is applied to the tip and the latter placed upon the end of the cue, and the clamp is secured upon the one end in the manner shown in Fig. 1. The pressure-screw is now loosened from the tip and adjusted to the one as desired and apply the clamp thereto and then hang it up for a day in a damp place-a cellar or a room in damp weather will answerand then rehang it for a suitable length of time in a dry or warm room.

By so constructing the device that it will support the cue with its weighted end down while the glue is setting the crooking of the cue caused by standing it upon its tipped (slender) end is eliminated, and crooked ones may be straightened, as set forth, and by so constructing the clamp that it is not forced onto and off the cue an additional cause of crooked cues is eliminated.

Having thus described the invention, what I believe to be new, and desire to secure by Letters-Patent, is

1. A cue-clamp, comprising a cross -bar, arms pivoted between their ends to the respective ends of the cross-bar and having their lower ends relatively formed to provide a cue-receiving month, an adjusting-screw threaded through the upper end of one of said arms and engaging the upper end of the other arm; and a pressure-screw having its stem threaded through said cross-bar and provided at its lower end with a head to engage the onetip, substantially as shown and described.

2. The herein-described cue-clamp, consisting of two arms having contiguous ends, formed to provide a mouth for the reception of the end of a one and with laterally-extending footpieces, a cross-bar to the ends of which said arms are pivoted, a screw threaded in said bar and having a depending head arranged over said mouth, and an adj ustingscrew threaded through one of said arms and bearing against the other, said adjustingscreW being located at the end of the clamp remote from said month.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

OLATONIA J. DORTIOUS.

Witnesses:

STEPHEN WOODRUFF, DAVID B. HETZEL. 

